Cargo Description: Her cargo has been reported as either wood, or none (light).

Length: 136.00

Beam: 28.30

Depth of Hold: 10.80

Gross Tonnage: 292.86

Propulsion Type: steam screw

Number of Masts: 0

Vessel

Location

Body of Water: Lake Michigan

County: Milwaukee

Nearest City: Milwaukee

Vessel

Builder

Registry Number: 106070

Builder: John Oades

Year Built: 1883

Location Built: Detroit, Michigan

Owners: Capt. A.E. Wilds of Chicago

Service History

The wooden steamer Alice E. Wilds was considered a first class lumber carrier.

Final Voyage

On Sunday 6/12/1892, the steamer Alice E. Wilds was struck by the small passenger steamer Douglas, which was bound from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Mich. The Douglas had twenty people on board at the time of the incident. Despite the fact that there was a heavy fog at the time the collision occurred, both vessels were traveling at a high rate of speed. The lookouts of neither steamer saw the approaching danger until the vessels were within a few rods of each other when it was too late to avert the collision. Although the Wilds sank extremely rapidly (inside of three minutes), no lives were lost. She went down in such deep water (over 300 feet) that she could not be recovered. The crew was rescued by the Douglas who made it back to port despite her stem being badly damaged. The Wilds was traveling light at the time of the collison, bound for Escanaba, Mich., from Chicago.
One source says she had a cargo of coal.

"The action of the Milwaukee Steamboat Inspectors in revoking the licenses of Captain Barney Wilds, of the A.E. Wilds and C.B. Coates, of the steamer Douglas was generally approved by marine men. The two boats were in collision off Milwaukee, and the Wilds went to the bottom. The testimony showed that both boats were running at full speed, and although they sighted each other twenty minutes before the crash, neither changed course. Not even a whistle was sounded." Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean, October 19,1892.

Today

The wreck of the Alice E. Wilds appears to have been found in June of 2015 approximately 18 miles from Milwaukee sitting upright in 300 feet of water.